Ordinary Appreciation

The New Yorker magazine for this Thanksgiving features a cover by Bruce McCall that shows a turkey divided into pieces with each part labeled for a different relative or dinner guest who will share in the holiday meal. All of the usual suspects are there – a paranoid mother-in-law, a boring uncle, a second cousin with a pet ferret, a brother-in-law, an exchange student. Right there around the turkey we meet with all of our issues of conflict, disappointment, struggle, and wishful thinking. The traditional shared meal marking a holiday of gratitude and thanksgiving offers us a perfect moment to reflect on our practice and experience the joy of ordinary appreciation.

The third patriarch Seng-ts’an wrote:

The Great Way is not difficult.

It just avoids picking and choosing.

Just don’t love or hate

And everything will be clear.

It’s not easy to set aside both love and hate. Our endless thoughts and our discriminating mind are constantly interpreting everything that arises. Who we like and who we can’t abide; who we have a hard time with or what annoys us. We are committed to our Zen practice but we still experience all of our human desires and frustrations.

Jesus said, “Even as ye have done it unto the least of me, ye have done it to me.”

We can’t commit to anything and anyone unless we commit to everything. This doesn’t mean we have to like it or that we must do everything perfectly. This is a practice, after all. It is, however, important for each of us to recognize what in our own life is the least of these. In other words: what is least to me or to you? Who or what are we least interested in serving?

For most of us, the least of these are certain people we dislike or people we have trouble with – people we consider dispensable or not worthy of our time and energy. And, in a more subtle sense, they may be those people we feel a need to instruct or help or those to whom we offer charity. It’s all very subtle. What I am proposing, you may argue, is unrealistic – devoting ourselves to those we dislike or have trouble with. You may ask, “How can I possibly devote myself to someone that I can’t stand?”

The answer is that, of course, we learn to practice with it. We observe all of the emotional thoughts surrounding the relationships we encounter. We practice serving those who push our buttons, revisiting relationships we’ve encountered that come with their own unique histories, emotions and baggage.

It is easy for us to approach people we have just met with a beginner’s mind. It is those we get together again with, the people with who we are most familiar, who we think we know. We know the things they like, what they will say. We even know how they will react. In our knowing, we miss being with them just as they are. Not knowing is most intimate. To not pick and choose is to realize emptiness of form. No discrimination. In being with things just as they are we are free to appreciate the totality of our experience.

When we say we commit ourselves to the Dharma we must realize that everything is the Dharma. There is nothing that is not Dharma. This is a hard practice. It isn’t for the faint of heart. The Dharma is revealed to us by every being and inanimate object we encounter. As human beings we want joy! It is our birthright, after all. But it is only through true commitment in our work, to our relationships and lives, that we can attain it. This practice, therefore, is always with the least of these.

Gratitude practice shifts us from a perspective that wishes things were different to one of radical acceptance. Radical acceptance is simple appreciation – no picking, no choosing. Our own mind is born out of ignorance and this ignorance produces deluded thoughts and differentiations. I’ve often said that all thoughts are delusion – the good, the bad and the ugly ones. They are all delusion. Our practice is about shutting the door on dualism and opening up to life as it is.

About Jules Shuzen Harris

Jules Shuzen Harris, Sensei is a Zen teacher of the White Plum Asanga, the lineage of the late Taizan Maezumi roshi. A Dharma heir of Pat Enkyo O’Hara roshi, Shuzen is one of the first African-American individuals to have received Dharma transmission in the history of Zen Buddhism. He is founder of Soji Zen Center in Pennsylvania and is also an experienced martial artist. He has studied with various teachers of our times, including Taizan Maezumi-roshi, John Daido Loori-roshi, Dennis Genpo Merzel-roshi, and Pat Enkyo O’Hara-roshi. I would like to thank Shuzen-sensei for taking the time to answer our questions for this interview.

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About Jules Shuzen Harris

Jules Shuzen Harris, Sensei is a Zen teacher of the White Plum Asanga, the lineage of the late Taizan Maezumi roshi. A Dharma heir of Pat Enkyo O’Hara roshi, Shuzen is one of the first African-American individuals to have received Dharma transmission in the history of Zen Buddhism. He is founder of Soji Zen Center in Pennsylvania and is also an experienced martial artist. He has studied with various teachers of our times, including Taizan Maezumi-roshi, John Daido Loori-roshi, Dennis Genpo Merzel-roshi, and Pat Enkyo O’Hara-roshi. I would like to thank Shuzen-sensei for taking the time to answer our questions for this interview.

About Sweeping Zen

Established in 2009 as a grassroots initiative, Sweeping Zen is a digital archive of information on Zen Buddhism. Featuring in-depth interviews, an extensive database of biographies, news, articles, podcasts, teacher blogs, events, directories and more, this site is dedicated to offering the public a range of views in the sphere of Zen Buddhist thought. We are also endeavoring to continue creating lineage charts for all Western Zen lines, doing our own small part in advancing historical documentation on this fabulous import of an ancient tradition. Come on in with a tea or coffee. You're always bound to find something new.

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